Saturday, March 22, 2008

Periodic Puppy Pics

Are you lookin' at me?

On Friday morning I drove over to Montrichard. We're making our traditional rabbit dinner for Easter (yes, we eat the Easter Bunny), but this year we're having rabbit with a twist. Ken found a Thai rabbit stir-fry recipe that sounds real good, and we're going to try it.

So I needed cilantro, and during the winter when I can't grow it in the garden, we have to buy it. The problem is that cilantro is not a very high demand item in the stores around here and is consequently hard to find. But the Super U in Montrichard had some a couple weeks ago, so I went back to get some more.

After my quick trip in and out of the supermarket, I stopped in downtown Montrichard to go to the bank and walk around the weekly farmers' market there. I had great parking karma.

There were three poultry vendors in the market selling rabbits. Most people who sell poultry at French markets also sell rabbits. One vendor, whose base of operations is in the town next to ours (and who also sells at the St.-Aignan market on Saturday mornings), had rabbits for €7.90 a kilo. Another vendor was selling them for €8.90/kilo, and a third had nice rabbits but didn't have a price on display.

I got in line for the €7.90 rabbit - the one I got weighs about 1.5 kilos. It's whole, with the head and the giblets. Most people were buying duck and chickens, but there was one woman in line ahead of me who bought a rabbit. Some other people after her bought rabbit "wings." Since rabbits don't usually have wings, I was curious when I heard the woman ask for some. Turns out they're the front legs of the rabbit and they look kind of like chicken wings. They bought a whole mess of 'em.

Next, I went over to a produce stand and got some flat green beans and a bunch of radishes. The beans are for Sunday's rabbit stir-fry and the radishes are for today's entrée (with butter and bread).

There must have been four or five different vendors selling oysters, too. Since it's Easter weekend, I think that people are getting oysters for their holiday dinners. They looked really good, but we didn't need any this weekend.

The market was lively and fun, and I saw many of the same vendors that we normally see on Saturdays in St.-Aignan, like the mushroom lady and the woman who sells goat cheese from her farm up behind our house. It had been raining, and everything was wet, and the vendors' lights reflected in the pavement and made the whole scene very pretty. People were smiling and joking, and all the vendors were laughing and having a good time.

Since I got everything we need for the weekend on Friday, we don't have to go out to the market this morning.


  1. Isn't parking karma great? My husband used to have it--he could park right where we wanted to go. even in cities. But I think it's a case of use it or lose it since we're losing it in the country.

    You gave us such a nice trip to the Montrichard the market this morning. Your Easter lunch is going to be terrific and you've given me a vague idea for our meal--rabbit wings, made out of...tofu? fried eggplant?

  2. Well we are in the Dordogne for Easter weekend and went to the market today. I didn't see rabbit wings but I wasn't looking either. The markets in France are such a treat. We do all of our shopping at them. It just reminds me of people in the US who pretentiously announce that they are going to the farmers market as if it were some special way to shop. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm people have been shopping like that for centuries. Anyway sounds like it was nice.

  3. Happy Easter! I just love to look at Callie's eyes. Maybe one day she'll wink at me...

  4. louise, let us know what you decide.

    owen, what part of the Dordogne? Sounds great!

    claudia, same to you! And you never know, she just might...

  5. Well we stay with our friend in Le Buisson de Cadouin, which is midway between Sarlat and Bergerac. It is where we stayed when we first moved to France before we got our apt in Toulouse.

  6. owen, I wondered if that wasn't it.


Pour your heart out! I'm listening.